Today I decided to make these Chocolate Orange Oatmeal Muffins topped with Pecans and sprinkled with Brown Sugar. Now I know what you're thinking that's way too many flavours into one muffin! Well, okay, so I have to admit I got a bit excited while combining the flavours and this ended up being the result. The initial recipe was fairly plain, so I thought I'd combine chocolate chips and oranges together, as this is a fairly popular flavour combination.
I then decided on adding a pecan on top to add a different texture for a crunch and sprinkled the brown sugar as per the recipe's instructions and also to add a bit of sweetness and caramelization. In terms of modifications, I used a fine grater to zest an orange and added 2/3 of it to the mixture, along with 1 cup of chocolate chips, and saved 1/3 of the orange zest to sprinkle on top of the muffins before baking.
I also cut up the rest of the orange into small pieces and added it in to the mixture. One change I would make next time would be to use 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup of chocolate chips instead of 1 cup, as the muffins had too much chocolate.
I then topped each muffin with one pecan half on top and sprinkled some brown sugar on top before baking them. I also used paper muffin tins before baking, but you could also butter the pan instead if you don't have any on hand or use silicone baking tins. I ended up baking the regular sized muffins for 23 minutes and the mini muffins for 17 minutes.
The recipe made 12 regular sized muffins plus 17 mini muffins. For the remaining empty muffin cavities in the pan I filled them halfway with water before baking, which adds moisture to the muffins that are baking and prevents the pan from burning. Overall, this recipe turned out fairly well and I love the versatility of this recipe, as you can use a combination of pretty much any fruit (fresh or dried), nut, chocolate, coconut, etc. Hope you enjoyed this review and have fun baking :)
Modification Summary:
-1 orange (zest the rind and cut up the orange to add to the mixture; use 2/3 of the zest for the mixture and 1/3 to sprinkle on top before baking. Add all of the orange pieces to the mixture)
-1/2 or 3/4 cup of chocolate chips (add to the mixture at the same time as you add the orange)
-Half pecans and chopped pecans (use one pecan half on top of each regular-sized muffin and sprinkle chopped pecans on top of the mini muffins)
-Extra brown sugar to sprinkle on top of each muffin)
Here is the link to the recipe: ihearteating.com
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